Monday, February 15, 2010

The Nani Iro side pocket bag giveaway

I wanted to celebrate the kickoff of my new sewing blog with a sewing giveaway! And what better day to do it than President's Day? It's like the largest, most commercial holiday ever. So in honor of Abe Lincoln, a Japanese pattern made up for you.

The Nani Iro side pocket bag ~



I have a bunch of Japanese pattern sewing books and I've always been too intimidated to try one. The language barrier! I can type Swedish or Italian into Babel Fish for translation but Japanese? No way.

So you can imagine how happy I was to find a free download translated Nani Iro bag pattern on the Magpie Patterns website!

I had this Japanese linen/cotton strawberry print fabric in my stash, and while I cut most of it up to make the Colette Parfait dress (more on that later in the week I hope), I had enough leftover to make this bag.


If you decide to sew your own, here are some tips I can give you -

1) The measurements are in centimeters! I know, you all probably knew that already but after measuring out 25 inches for the height and thinking "holy cow, this is the biggest handbag I've ever seen," I looked at it again and realized 25 cm made so much more sense.

2) I interfaced this bag with regular strength fusible interfacing. If I were to make it again I'd use a heavier sew-in interfacing. It's a soft bag and my preference would be for it to have more body.

3) It doesn't call for any interior pockets so I added an inside pocket with a welt opening. I would have used a zipper closure, but that's where the button was to be sewn on and I wasn't sure if it would interfere.

4) I think this would be super cute as a shoulder bag, too. If you lengthened the handles by another six or ten inches, and adjusted the curves of the lines, it would work. You know, I've come up with so many things I could do differently next time I just may have to make this again some day.
The pleated side pockets would be perfect for carrying a diaper case, or a book or Blackberry.

It would make a great bag for carrying knitting/crocheting/embroidery projects with you.

Here's how to enter the giveaway and win the bag:

1) Simply leave a comment here for one entry.

2) If you leave a link to this blog or this post on your own blog, and copy your link in your comments you'll automatically get three entries to win.

3) If you are a follower and comment, you'll get another entry.

I hope that's not too confusing? So one entry for comment, two entries for followers who comment and three if you mention this post on your own blog and link back to it.

I'll be traveling this week for work, so the contest ends on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 5:00pm CST. I'll post the winner on Saturday morning, cause it might take me that long just to figure up the entries! Yikes, how do people do this? If you're from outside the U.S., don't worry. I'll ship it to you, too.

Thanks for your support and happy sewing ~

45 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! This is incredible! I'm in awe of your sewing skilz ;)

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  2. i love it!!!!! it came out great!!!

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  3. I love this bag would love to win it xxx

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  4. Heather, thanks for reminding me how uncrafty I am!

    Will you be selling any of these on Etsy someday?

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  5. Oh, I love Nani Iro! What an adorable bag!

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  6. What a lovely roomy bag, and great fabric.All those pockets are so useful!

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  7. Thanks for the link and the tips on sewing this. And, thanks for the giveaway!

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  8. Beautiful bag! Thanks for the chance to win! pe_mayfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  9. oooh, I LOVE the bag, AND the fabric.

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  10. I am now a follower. I linked to your post on my blog. Can you tell I love this bag? It's beautiful!

    http://the-workbasket.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-cute-bag.html

    ps- Sorry the post is so short!

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  11. This bag is super cute! Love it!!
    I am also a follower. :)

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  12. I know EXACTLY what I'll use this for. I hope that ups my winning chances! :)

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  13. p.s. I "follow" you on Google Reader. Does that count?

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  14. Super cute bag! check out my blog!
    http://junebugvintage.blogspot.com/2010/02/100th-view-celebration.html

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  15. Okay. I want this bag. I pulled out all the stops. I am commenting, I did a blog post about it, and I am now following Featherty Sews. It is, by the way, the first and only blog I am officially following. PICK ME! Love ya. :)

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  16. My friend Angela posted about this bag on her blog and I had to come check it out! Gorgeous!!!!

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  17. I also posted a link to you on my blog and yes, I am following you! http://joshandbethchapp.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-cute-stuff.html

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  18. This is so cute, I'm glad I checked Sew Retro today and saw your post! Count me as a follower now :)

    -Jenn
    http://matchamagnolia.blogspot.com/

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  19. Love it! I'm in the process of ever so slowly learning to sew. I have a feeling if I ever master the art of sewing I will constantly make purses (and dresses for my 3 girls)!

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  20. I'm a follower now! This is entry #2
    CourtneyEStephenson@gmail.com

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  21. This bag is presh! It's so fresh and summery! Especially with all the horrible wintery weather around! I'll definitely try this pattern out as well! Thanks for the tips!

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  22. Oh wow! I'm moving half my sewing stuff to the garage and could totally use this wehn I have to go out there and draft/cut stuff.

    Elaina aka SewDucky
    SewDucky.blog@gmail.com

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  23. cute bag. I'd love one made by someone else rather than myself!

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  24. Beautiful bag. I love the Nani iro fabrics. THanks, Simone

    mayzesimone@hotmail.com

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  25. What an adorable bag...now I'm on the hunt for these fabrics near me!

    hpennie@amtelecom.net

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  26. thanks for the opportunity to win such a cute bag! Oh and i'm a follower now!

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  27. Love it so much...especially the fabic:-)
    THanks for sharing
    www.lunamama2.blogspot.com

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  28. this bag is so cute! i'd love to win it!

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  29. Not only is that bag super cute I LOVE the fabric!!!

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  30. I sooooo want this bag! Love it...hope I win it!

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  31. I love this bag and I love your blog.

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  32. Ohhhh - so pretty. I would love to have this!

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  33. Beautiful!!! I wish I were crafty enough to do this!

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  34. That is SOOOOO cute! Thanks for giving it away :0)

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  35. The bag is sooooo adorable! I would love to participate please!

    www.thejoyoffashion.blogspot.com

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  36. I can't wait to try this pattern. Thanks for the link.

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